kateandlisaHow to Transition Off Birth Control Without Scary Symptoms – Even After 5, 10, 15+ Years
Here we are specifically talking about hormonal birth control – and even though the copper IUD is non-hormonal, it can still affect your hormones. This is mostly due to the relationship between copper and estrogen.
The pill shuts down communication from the brain to the ovaries to prevent ovulation and therefore prevents pregnancy. When you stop the pill this hormonal communication system needs to wake back up and your body will start producing hormones on its own.
How long it takes to restore a healthy cycle and regulate hormones and the potential symptoms you experience all depend on your hormonal picture pre-birth control; how long you were on it; genetics; and nutrition and lifestyle factors.
Some will completely miss periods for months after stopping birth control. Restoring your period and having regular cycles is possible.
Possible Symptoms After Birth Control:
- Acne
- Hair loss
- Gut issues
- Missing/Irregular period
- Pre-birth control symptoms return
- Fatigue
These Are Driven by Hormone Imbalances Like:
- Elevated Androgens
- Estrogen/Progesterone Imbalances
- Cortisol Imbalances
A potential occurrence after stopping birth control is something called androgen 
rebound. This is when your androgen levels can raise and even become elevated after being suppressed by the pill. Your androgens are your testosterone, DHEA and DHT.
We focus on 4 major areas to help reduce severity of symptoms – supporting your hormonal communication system and ease the transition as much as possible.
Liver
Your liver plays an important role in hormone metabolism and detoxification. It is also the processing center for medications or pharmaceuticals (like birth control pills). You can experience altered estrogen metabolism after stopping birth control.
Gut
The pill can affect overall gut health and optimal gut functioning is needed to make sure we are properly digesting/absorbing nutrients for building hormones.
Adrenals/Stress
Your adrenals govern your stress response and produce your main stress hormone – cortisol (and DHEA is produced by your adrenals as well). If your body is in a state of chronic stress it can have a downstream effect on your sex hormones.
Nutrient Depletion
The pill has quite a few nutrient depletions. Just by the nature of how the body metabolizes the pill it can lead to nutrient depletions over time. These include: B vitamins like B6, B12, folate Vitamin C, Zinc, Selenium. These all play an important role not only in hormone production but also mood chemical production. Nutrient deficiencies can be tied to your period and mood-related symptoms.
Uncovering root causes and focusing on individualized nutrition and lifestyle shifts, you period can come back. One way these root causes can be uncovered through functional lab testing.
If you are coming off hormonal birth control and would like some guidance and insights into your hormonal picture, let’s chat. We can set up a complimentary consult and develop a plan of action.
